Topic: What is the BEST forum software available today? (Read 18142 times)
Is not this topic belongs to the Meta section of this forum? Also I do not know what is the best - the great thing is that you can choose what you will use. With that variety of software you are not limited to one solution.
Why Phpbb is not on the list ? 
(I am fan of Forumotion hosting which is working on PHPBB as far as I know )
(I am fan of Forumotion hosting which is working on PHPBB as far as I know )
I've used both MyBB and Xenforo. I used to (and still am) a member of the community forums at MyBB. I develop plugins there and relate a lot of my expertise considering I have used the forum on-and-off for over 3 years atleast (probably more like 4). However, I voted for Xenforo because I believe Xenforo (as a premium software) has more and is going to have more of a feature base than MyBB ever will.
If premium is an option, go for Xenforo.
If free is the best choice (which it might be because open source should match with open source), then MyBB would be best.
I wish there was a split choice TBH.
If premium is an option, go for Xenforo.
If free is the best choice (which it might be because open source should match with open source), then MyBB would be best.
I wish there was a split choice TBH.
Discourse may be ready, want to try it?
From my experience, I can tell toy that discourse is the best-looking forum software, having both modern UI and ease of use....
What about security? It might look good, but be flawed in the backend.Sadly discourse is a beta stage which means a lot of exploits out there...
But the future of discourse is very ambitious.
My first touch with XenForo was at Chevereto.com/community. I like the functionality and appearance.
From my experience, I can tell toy that discourse is the best-looking forum software, having both modern UI and ease of use....
What about security? It might look good, but be flawed in the backend.
From my experience, I can tell toy that discourse is the best-looking forum software, having both modern UI and ease of use....
Looks like someone has made a reasonable forum based on SMF 2.x:
https://www.bitcoinforum.com
Dunno the story behind it.
https://www.bitcoinforum.com
Dunno the story behind it.
Regarding SMF 2.X , I'm not sure but I think I've heard theymos say that the second version has a lot of security issues, even more than the first one.
Security should be one of the key comparison criteria, and it should be evaluated as objectively as possible, not by hearsay. Every product, OTF or home grown, is going to have security issues, but I would tend to trust more the one that has the most eyeballs, and SMF gets a lot. This might be useful:http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Understanding_SMF_Security
Quote
Actually, the current version of SMF used here is heavily modified to address many flaws, both functional, feature related as well as exploits.
Every product, OTF or home grown, is going to have "flaws" (requirements gaps). Theymos addressed those of SMF 1.x--we're talking about 2.x. The existence of the customizations has been mentioned repeatedly throughout his RFC threads:https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/rfc-new-forum-software-specifications-45372
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/looking-for-someone-to-createmodify-software-for-this-forum-5500-btc-50617
but has Theymos documented his mods somewhere? It would be nice to see a list, and then see which of them has been addressed by 2.x or an available mod, and estimate the effort required to recreate the others.
Participants in this thread should be asking themselves what is special about the bitcoin community that requires features not used by the other thousands of online communities. It would probably be simpler and cheaper to contribute those additional features back to an open-source project like SMF, or provide them as mods:
http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/
Sorry, I am allowing myself to be goaded into expressing a product opinion. Analysis first....
Regarding SMF 2.X , I'm not sure but I think I've heard theymos say that the second version has a lot of security issues, even more than the first one.
Security should be one of the key comparison criteria, and it should be evaluated as objectively as possible, not by hearsay. Every product, OTF or home grown, is going to have security issues, but I would tend to trust more the one that has the most eyeballs, and SMF gets a lot. This might be useful:http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Understanding_SMF_Security
Quote
Actually, the current version of SMF used here is heavily modified to address many flaws, both functional, feature related as well as exploits.
Every product, OTF or home grown, is going to have "flaws" (requirements gaps). Theymos addressed those of SMF 1.x--we're talking about 2.x. The existence of the customizations has been mentioned repeatedly throughout his RFC threads:https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/rfc-new-forum-software-specifications-45372
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/looking-for-someone-to-createmodify-software-for-this-forum-5500-btc-50617
but has Theymos documented his mods somewhere? It would be nice to see a list, and then see which of them has been addressed by 2.x or an available mod, and estimate the effort required to recreate the others.
Participants in this thread should be asking themselves what is special about the bitcoin community that requires features not used by the other thousands of online communities. It would probably be simpler and cheaper to contribute those additional features back to an open-source project like SMF, or provide them as mods:
http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/
Sorry, I am allowing myself to be goaded into expressing a product opinion. Analysis first....
The forum-software poll suffers from vote-splitting. As Einstein said, make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. When people make posts simply naming their favorite software, they duplicate the poll (along with its vote-splitting flaw) as well as creating clutter.
What you really want is a comparison matrix of candidates vs. weighted criteria, and for people to *rate* the candidates (say on a scale of 1-10) on each criterion. A simpler method would be just rating the candidates overall 1-10 (Score Voting). The simplest possible would be an approval vote, i.e. rating the candidates 0 or 1. If the SMF poll function doesn't support this, you could hold a vote at:
http://electionbuddy.com
but I would find something that supports Score Voting.
Some info sources on all the platforms:
http://www.cmscritic.com/critics-choice-cms-awards/
http://www.forummatrix.org
http://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-simplemachinesforum/all/all
I'm not a big fan of pure forum software, as it does not provide a platform for a complete virtual community (as Drupal, Joomla, or Wordpress would), but this group seems focused on having just a forum. In that case, if I were to allow myself to jump ahead and guess the results of the exercise, SMF 2.x would win because it is both the incumbent and still a clear market leader.
Regarding SMF 2.X , I'm not sure but I think I've heard theymos say that the second version has a lot of security issues, even more than the first one. Actually, the current version of SMF used here is heavily modified to address many flaws, both functional, feature related as well as exploits. What you really want is a comparison matrix of candidates vs. weighted criteria, and for people to *rate* the candidates (say on a scale of 1-10) on each criterion. A simpler method would be just rating the candidates overall 1-10 (Score Voting). The simplest possible would be an approval vote, i.e. rating the candidates 0 or 1. If the SMF poll function doesn't support this, you could hold a vote at:
http://electionbuddy.com
but I would find something that supports Score Voting.
Some info sources on all the platforms:
http://www.cmscritic.com/critics-choice-cms-awards/
http://www.forummatrix.org
http://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-simplemachinesforum/all/all
I'm not a big fan of pure forum software, as it does not provide a platform for a complete virtual community (as Drupal, Joomla, or Wordpress would), but this group seems focused on having just a forum. In that case, if I were to allow myself to jump ahead and guess the results of the exercise, SMF 2.x would win because it is both the incumbent and still a clear market leader.
The forum-software poll suffers from vote-splitting. As Einstein said, make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. When people make posts simply naming their favorite software, they duplicate the poll (along with its vote-splitting flaw) as well as creating clutter.
What you really want is a comparison matrix of candidates vs. weighted criteria, and for people to *rate* the candidates (say on a scale of 1-10) on each criterion. A simpler method would be just rating the candidates overall 1-10 (Score Voting). The simplest possible would be an approval vote, i.e. rating the candidates 0 or 1. If the SMF poll function doesn't support this, you could hold a vote at:
http://electionbuddy.com
but I would find something that supports Score Voting.
Some info sources on all the platforms:
http://www.cmscritic.com/critics-choice-cms-awards/
http://www.forummatrix.org
http://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-simplemachinesforum/all/all
I'm not a big fan of pure forum software, as it does not provide a platform for a complete virtual community (as Drupal, Joomla, or Wordpress would), but this group seems focused on having just a forum. In that case, if I were to allow myself to jump ahead and guess the results of the exercise, SMF 2.x would win because it is both the incumbent and still a clear market leader.
What you really want is a comparison matrix of candidates vs. weighted criteria, and for people to *rate* the candidates (say on a scale of 1-10) on each criterion. A simpler method would be just rating the candidates overall 1-10 (Score Voting). The simplest possible would be an approval vote, i.e. rating the candidates 0 or 1. If the SMF poll function doesn't support this, you could hold a vote at:
http://electionbuddy.com
but I would find something that supports Score Voting.
Some info sources on all the platforms:
http://www.cmscritic.com/critics-choice-cms-awards/
http://www.forummatrix.org
http://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-simplemachinesforum/all/all
I'm not a big fan of pure forum software, as it does not provide a platform for a complete virtual community (as Drupal, Joomla, or Wordpress would), but this group seems focused on having just a forum. In that case, if I were to allow myself to jump ahead and guess the results of the exercise, SMF 2.x would win because it is both the incumbent and still a clear market leader.
My picks would be SMF and VanillaForums. I've been using both for some time now.
here to propose the same Vanilla Forum
My picks would be SMF and VanillaForums. I've been using both for some time now.
SMF,
the founder @Discourse doesn't want us:
That's not what I read in Jeff's answer. He's just telling the truth: Migrating to a new forum will be tough if you don't make a hard cut.
I love vbulletin because of its features. But it is not advisable if you don't have good devs to address those vulnerabilities.
The software being developed for bitcointalk by anyone :-)
how could this be a feature???
I hope you mean this as in it is not a bug it's a feature
User: I do A
Program: You just did B, i throttle you.
Oh yeah I misread.I hope you mean this as in it is not a bug it's a feature
User: I do A
Program: You just did B, i throttle you.
The forum handles logins, searches and posting the same way.
So when you are a newbie you can't do 2 of those too quickly. There are several threads about this problem in Meta.
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